The 9th rite was held in the Sumela Monastery

In the Sumela Monastery, one of the important faith centers in Türkiye, the ritual, which is considered as the “Ascension day of the Virgin Mary” in the Christian world and performed by Christian Orthodox, was held under the direction of Fener Rum (Greek) Patriarch Bartholomew.

Prayers and hymns were sung by the clergy during the ritual, which lasted about 3 hours. It was seen that some participants had emotional moments during the ceremony where the visitors prayed by lighting candles.

Due to the ritual, it was observed that the gendarmerie and police teams took security measures at the Sümela Monastery and ruins, as well as the Maçka district center. During the ritual, health officials and AFAD teams were kept ready in the monastery to avoid any untoward incident.

Fener Greek Patriarch Bartholomew, in his speech at the end of the service, said that they are very grateful and happy to be in Sümela Monastery again.

Stating that the Sumela Monastery has been standing tall for centuries despite the harsh climatic conditions, Bartholomew said, “It is a great blessing of God for us to be able to commemorate the Virgin Mary, to offer our prayers and to seek refuge in her intercession at the Sumela Monastery. “It is a special and important day as much as it is a special and important day. Before this holiday, which is celebrated as the ascension day of the Virgin Mary, we fast for 15 days, pray and spend a period in a strong faith journey.” he said.

Bartholomew thanked Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy for their presence in the Sumela Monastery and continued as follows:

“We would like to express our gratitude and thanks to all our laboring brothers, engineers, experts and workers, local authorities and of course the people of Trabzon, who have worked on these steep rocks for years and worked so that the Sümela Monastery can be preserved in accordance with its spirit and history. “We loved the people of Trabzon and the surrounding provinces very much. Their cordial hospitality always made us happy. Especially on this visit, we were very happy to come to Trabzon, which won a championship in the field of sports. We wish this success to continue.”

“Let these lands be an example, let the surrounding countries be inspired”

Mentioning the fire in Balıklı Rum (Greek) Hospital Elderly Home, Bartholomew stated that they came together with common pain and said:

“In addition to the fact that there was no loss of life in the building, the sharing of our pain by many people from different walks of life, from different faiths, alleviated our pain a little bit. We would like to thank our neighbors, people and administrators, who saved our elderly and sick people and showed an example of humanity by disregarding their own lives. We would like to thank once again for this meaningful culture of solidarity. Let’s protect and develop. Let’s get to know each other better, let’s love people, let’s count different cultures. Let this land be an example, let the surrounding countries be inspired. Humanity needs peace and security and has the right to be happy.”

AA